"To the glistening eastern sea I give you queen Lucy the valiant"

Thomas was one of Queen Lucy's best friends, they had been since he had come to the Cair when he was nine. He was a year older than the Valiant Queen and lived in hiding during the end of the hundred year winter. His grandfather was some distant relative to the line of Frank so technically speaking Thomas had some royal blood in him, but when I say some I mean next to none. His grandfather joined the fight against the white witch the first time and died in battle; not too long after his grandmother died of broken heart. His father managed to escape death during the first war with the Witch but his uncle went missing in action, presumed dead, we all know that the witch rarely took prisoners of war.

Thomas was currently in training under the tutelage of Oreius, and was said to be remarkably well with a sword. Now in normal circumstances the general of the entire Narnian army would not just up and train somebody, but he had a dept to pay from Thomas's father and agreed to train him. Now Thomas was still easily bested by the sword masters of the Cair but he could still handle himself just fine with his trusted weapon; he was also quite handy with a bow if he needed it, but it was bot his weapon of choice. Among the people residing in the Cair they knew him mostly for two things, for his temper which could put a Minotaur to shame, and the fact that he was friends with the youngest Queen, some people said that he was trying to be all nice so that one day he could marry Queen Lucy and have a spot as a ruler, but to be honest, Thomas wanted nothing to do with ruling a country, protecting it maybe but not ruling, and he only thought of Queen Lucy as a good friend and had and never will have romantic attachments to her, or at least right now.

Thomas stood in the training yard decked out in armor of a royal guard and with his sword in hand. General Oreius charged and swung his claymore in an attempt to take off his head. Thomas ducked under the blow which gave him a clear opening to the Centuar's horse chest. Thomas brought up his sword to stab the Centuar but that was when Thomas fell for the trap, Oreius reared up and pushed Thomas backwards with his front legs, causing him to fall back and land heavily on the stone ground, pretty soon the tip of the General's sword was pressed up against Thomas's chest.

"Your fall was sloppy, even you should have been able to fall more gracefully than that, also you hold your sword too low, making it harder for you to defend yourself. I know you always try to fight on the offensive and that is good but you must also prepare to be able to fight on the defensive. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Thomas said sadly as he stood up. "I will try harder."

"You will have to if you ever want to best the other blade masters. Now you are done for today, take off your armor and refresh yourself." Thomas nodded and left to the armoury which was right next to the training yard. Lucy stood there waiting, obviously she had seen me fall but she did not laugh, it wasn't uncommon to see the General best somebody in a fight.

"So what did Susan assign for you to do?" Lucy asked .

"I got stuck with moving bails of straw behind the targets and for seats. I guess your sister needed someone with my brute strength."

Lucy coughed at that . "Cause I'm nice I'm not going to say what I was thinking."

"Ha ha very funny. Are you going to shoot?"

"I wish I could but I can't, I have to sit and watch and act all queen like. You?"

"I figured I would, I just wish it was sword fighting instead."

"We all know that Oreius would win." Lucy said with a grin. It was true General Oreius (besides Peter and Edmund) was the best sword fighter in Narnia.

"I don't know, he's taught me well."

"He won't teach you how to beat him, though I know the best way to fight Centuars."

"Really how." Thomas asked, hoping to finally learn how to best his teacher. For the longest time he wanted to beat Oreius in their weekly sparring contests.

"For me to know and you to find out, though I might tell you for a price" .

Thomas knew that if Lucy asked for a price then he'd probably end up doing something stupid but the chance of beating Oreius was to great to pass up.

"How much?"

"Oh no not money , it'd be an action." Definitely something stupid.

"Well what?"

"If you win the archery competition than I'll tell you."

"And if I don't win."

"I'll tell you the day of the competition. Well anyway I need to go to council."

"Alright bye."

Lucy left and Thomas quickly high tailed it to his chamber where he had his bow and arrows. Upon reaching the barracks he started unloading the arrows into a target, each one perfect bullseye. "That information is as good as mine." He thought.

The next week passed like a day, Thomas now could shoot a bullseye with the target on one end of courtyard and him shooting from the other. He dressed in his armor, it was specially made for him, a blend between dwarf and Centuar blacksmithing .

The competition was held on the beach and was about to start. Oreius was the spokesman.

"First off we have Thomas, Poggin, Sundance." I'd tell you the rest but I figured you don't want to hear a bunch of names.

Thomas took his spot in front of the target and fired. Bullseye. The dwarf Poggin got a bullseye too and Sundance the centaur was close. None of the others got anywhere near the target so Thomas was good. After he was dismissed until he was called back Thomas went to the royal booth but a faun and a satyr blocked his path .

"Oh come on guys" .

"Sorry Thomas." The faun said. But General Oreius gave strict orders that no one without permission may see the royal family."

Luckily Lucy came and let Thomas come in . She also told the guards that he was aloud inside at his own free will .

"So what happens if I lose" ?

"I was thinking of something along the lines of going to the meeting at Stormess Pass with Edmund and me" .

"I was going anyway . Oreius wants me to get some diplomatic experience" .

"Well than if you lose you have too... "

She was s cut short by Oreius calling him up. The day went by and Thomas was second. He was beaten by Poggin.

"Alright Lucy what do I have to do" ? A disappointed Thomas asked . He was somewhat prideful and his pride hurt , bad .

Lucy thought about it for a moment and then grinned a mischievous grin .

"You have to read a hearts call" . It was a romance novel that Thomas wouldn't be caught dead with .

"But but that's a girls book . Do you know what could happen to my reputation of I get caught" ?

"I know perfectly well what could happen , and I expect you to start reading it tomorrow" .

"Your a devious girl Lucy Pevensie" .

"I know" . And with that the two friends walked off leaving the guard and rest of the royal family behind .

While they were walking back they heard an unearthly howl . Before it finished Thomas drew his sword and pulled Lucy closer . Yellow eyes looked out from the darkness (for it was night) . Puffs of hot air blew out of the nostrils of tall creatures . One of them laughed a gruff laugh .

"Your on the territory of the queen" . It was one of the tall creatures .

"And who is this queen you speak of" ? Thomas knew of whom he spoke of but wanted to by time for the guards to show up .

"Jadis true queen of Narnia" .

"Hmm that name sounds familiar , where have I heard it" .

"Like I said she's the true queen" .

"But can you give me more of a description" ?

An arrow flew through the air and pierced Thomas's shoulder. He stifled a cry as he clutched his shoulder.

"Is that the best you got?" Thomas asked.

"Alright boys it's dinner time." The leader said, probably a Minotaur. The smaller creatures which were werewolves ran out, snarling and growling. Thomas pulled Lucy behind him and raised his sword. He lopped off the heads of three, impaled five and maimed a lot. Blood trickled down the tip of his sword and the bodies started piling up around him .

"You fight good, but not good enough." The leader said.

"You want to further test my fighting skills?" Thomas asked, though je doubted how long he could hold up, his arm was killing him and the loss of blood worried him.

"Your just a calf , nothing more than a boy" . That really hit home . Thomas hated being called a kid .

"Like I said come out and face me" .

"Boys let's see how he'll react if we hurt his pretty little friend' .

"Touch her and I'll introduce you to the end of my sword. He enjoyed meeting your friends." Thomas was mad, and it was clear to see. No matter how prideful, stubborn, or temperamental he was, he was loyal, you hurt his friends and he'll come after you.

Thomas heard arrows fitting into bowstrings and than a twang. And without a split second hesitation he pushed Lucy down and took them all. There were ten in all. His armor cushioned most of it, causing six to not penetrate but the four that did caused him fall down in pain, He stood up weakly with the help of Lucy who had tears streaming down her face, not out of fear for her life but for his. Thomas held his sword up as a Narnian horn rang out, quickly followed by a loud war cry. Oreius along with the royal guard charged through the trees and killed the enemies; Minotaurs they were. Thomas tried to help but quickly blacked out.